Attachment for rural mail boxes



Feb. 24, 1931. R. c. HUGHES ATTACHMENT FOR RURAL MAIL BOXES Filed June 5. 1929 Patented Feb.- 24., 11931 UNITED) 1 RICHARD c. HUGHES, or BEAVER DAM, oNegHA'Lr" To ARTHUR W. LUncH, or BEAVERD'AM, Wisconsin' ATTACHMENT FoHHnttALf-MAL iofxf'nsA Application led `Tune 5, 1929. Serial No. 368,631.v

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in attachments for rural mail boxes. v

One of the objects of my inventionfis the provision of an attachment for rural mail.

-ble to retrieve the mail from the interior of the box. Y

.It is a well known fact that in a great many sections ofthe country, during the winter months, the rural postmen necessarily wear heavy gloves to protect their hands., against the severe weather, and it is rather diiiicult to remove letters from the mail box without removing the gloves from the hands,

v and the case applies equally as well vto the owner'of'the box `when removing the mail from the box whichrhas been left by the postman.Y Y

It is, therefore, one of the principal objects of my invention to provide an attachment for mail boxes which is so constructed and arranged that it will receiveand retain letters and similar articles within 'the mail box and when the box is opened will be projected from the box so that they maybe quickly and easilyremoved.

`A further object of my invention is the provision of an attachment of the above character which resides in a slidable clamp` ing member normally positioned Within the mail box and has connection with the door of the mail box whereby the said clamping member is projected from the yopen end of the box when the door is opened and is returned to the interior of the mail box upon the closing of the door.

With the above and other objects in view,

l "the invention consists in the novel features 'ofy mylinvention; l

Figure 2 lisa: transverse 2- 21of-Figuire 1r; and;

section on -the5line of Figure 1.",

Referring to the drawing :have

Villustrated the applicationl of: my invention, 1t w1l1 be noted that the numeral 1 indicates c the conventional typef ofv a rural delivery mail box vhaving-Ia hingedV4 door 2 at, the open" end `thereofwliich is retained in afclo'sed Y position by means of yieldablfe'catch ,mem-v* Y bers- 3,YV saidcatch members-having the. usual-V means for applying a pa dlock or l-otherilockfornetaining thedoo-r in a clojsedyposition of vthemail box orthe postmanff My improved attachmentcomprises able clamping Vmember 4.1. vThis' clamping member may be formed vof twotape'ringpl-ates 5 and 5 arranged in parallel relationanjd connected means `ofi rivet 6451i; will be noted-,that the rivet 6 is varrangednearer the innerend ofthe plates than the outer end, so that theouter ends. thereof inay-befeasily forced apart as the plates are preferably formed ofthin yieldable metal'. Y

Theouter ends oftheseplates are formedv with outwardly ycurved portions` v7 and ,7v forming guides whei'ebyletters or similar articles of mail may bejreadily. forced between thel two plates and 5', the clamping action of the plates tightly gripping the letters or mail matter to ,holdthem-in position, as

shown jin Figure 1.v

will be noted that the clamping-member i 4 1s preferablyarranged inits normalposi-` tion adjacent the openend ofthe mail box andls shdably mounted, within the'boxby havingtheplater" Vformed with downwardly i project-ing feet.8,the lowerends of vwhich are disposedrat rightangles and forma1f1atsurface to ride upon the upperface of the bottom of the box.. Y f v Theclamping member14 isslidably mounted within' guide arm 9 carriedby Ongesvde of.,

the mail box 1 and the' member 4f is connectedlv to an operating rod 10, the pivotalconnection between the operating rod andthe member 4 is arranged ladjacent the inner end ofV the Vmember 4, as shown at 11, while the other end of the rod 10 is Vpivotally connected to the door 2, as shown at 12.V From this, lit will be 5 apparent that movement imparted to the door `2 will bevreadily VconveyedtoY the slidable clamping member 4. v Y Y 1- i Normally, the Vmember lis disposedwithin u the housing adjacent the open end thereof, as l0 shown in Figure l, but ,whenthedoo'rl2-visl` Y swung to an open position,L as illustratedv by dotted lines, the clampingmemberll is movedv outwardly as shown by the dotted line posi'- tion. f ff: 15 From this it will be apparent that when the mail boX door 2 is swung to an open position, the clamping member 4 will :be movedfoutwardly so that the outer end thereof projects beyond the end of the mail box,Y thus placing 2Otlie clamping member in' such positionthat the postman can readily remove'anymail matterdisposed betweenthe plates 5fand 5 and can deposit between thepla'tes any mail matter-to beleft in the box.' f i' 25 Preferably the clamping member bis used for receiving letters and small articles of mail which would necessitate dificulty'in-'removing'these`articles from the-'large mail box, while rolls of'newsp'apersand larger parcels '307 Vcanbe'deposited iin the main box l. It 'will be apparentthat the postman can readilyre` moveVV letters 'to be posted from the'- clamping member without the necessity: ofremoving his gloves during winter weather,.and the owner, v5 "ofthebox can also vreadily remove anymail left inv the clamping member.v l claimr-V f f f In combination witha mailbox having a swinging door for closing one end thereof, a "i0 movable 'clamping member in'cludingplate's arranged in opposedrelation and tapering. toward one end, means for connectingsaid plates adjacentY the smaller end,v one of said plates having downwardly projecting feet p 15 with laterally disposed lower endsfto be slidably mounted upon the bottom of the lionsing, the laifrer ends of said plates being outwardly curved in opposed relation for receiving pieces of mail there between, a guide arm 5U' carried by the housing in which the platesare slidably mounted, a rod having pivotal connection with `the smaller ends ofthe'plates, -and having its other end pivotally'connected with the door whereby when the idool is 55 opened, lthe plates will be movedgto a projected positionpwith `respect to thehonsing and disposed within the housingwhen the door is closed, saidA plates being formed of thin yield able material for clampingly engag- 59 ing objects disposed therebetween.4

In testimony that I claim the foregoing l have hereunto set my hand at Beaver Dam, in the county of Dodge and State of Visconsin, this '10 day of May, 1929. l

" RICHARDl C. HUGHES. 

